Familiar Facility
by Sigeven
Summary: Chell is dragged back down into aperture, but this time, she's going to end it once and for all, meet new friends, and discover secrets that no one had ever known about. Containing characters from Portal 2 and Portal Stories : Mel *which I don't think they have a tag for RIP*
1. Chapter 1 - Blackout

Finally it was done. It had taken her a year at the very least but it was done. Chell finally finished building herself a small wooden cabin, just big enough for her. The cabin was made of wood and it wasn't at all perfect, but it was still a livable area. The cabin had flowers sticking out of it at some places, to make it feel more comfortable. The patterns weaved in and out of small slots in the cabin, making a mesmerizing pattern. Chell found out that abstract and compact art like this comforted her, and it was good that she had the ability to make something like that. There was also a radio. Out of all the things that could've been, it was a radio. She found it behind the shed she exited out of. And it only played one song. The same annoying song that she heard when she first woke up in that wretched place. But she still had it, just in case a new song came on, or something other than static was on the radio. She was hoping for a song that she heard only once while browsing through stations, that went a bit like 'Something something- back, when they something you, no need to say goodbye'. That's all she could remember from the song, but she liked it, and when she tried to find it again it wasn't there. It was the only song that played that wasn't the exact same song over and over again. There was no bed, and nothing to keep her warm, although the cabin was more or less for if it rained. Instead, she slept on a soft patch of grass near her area she decided to make into a fireplace.

The patch she slept on was near a large forest, which had many secrets hiding. One time Chell wandered deep into the forest when she heard the smack of an axe hitting a tree. Someone was there. So Chell said the loudest 'Hello?' she could say, which wasn't very loud as yelling hurt her throat. There was a lot of rustling in the leaves and the drop of something heavy. Chell, startled, had run over to investigate, but it seemed the person was gone, and all they left was an axe. She took it and looked around, before walking off again. The person, surely wouldn't miss the axe, as they had dropped it when they ran off. Another time, she had taken a stroll and stumbled across a stone path, worn down, but still very magical looking. She followed that stone path, and it led to a lake. It was very blue, in fact, dangerously blue. Like repulsion gel had gotten into it. She had decided not to take a drink of it, for all she had known it could have been toxic chemicals. It was still satisfying to look at. That natural overgrown look that seems almost magical. She liked it there, but rarely went, in case it was toxic. She didn't want to get intoxicated.

After she had left Aperture, she stayed near the exit for a few days, but still being vigilant, in case she was snatched back down into the cold depths of Aperture. Sure, GLaDOS let her escape, but she still didn't trust her one bit. GLaDOS was cold hearted, and nothing could change that. Maybe if she hadn't deleted Caroline she'd feel a bit more safe. Caroline was the only thing reminiscent of a human she had ever known, because she was always there from the beginning. Chell had pondered a bit, thinking, was it GLaDOS that was evil, or Caroline. She shook away the feeling of dread that was hanging over her head and thought to herself that it WAS GLaDOS. A human couldn't enjoy testing that much- _or could they?_

Chell shook herself back into reality. She had drifted off again. This was happening a lot lately, and she needed it to stop. It doesn't help that all her flashbacks were bad. She walked over to a table made of wood and sat down on the companion cube she used for a stool. The table was not stylish, but it was one nonetheless. She had been lucky enough to find tools in the shed that contained the exit. It allowed her to build things, and she taught herself the grip of building. 'Maybe, I could be a builder' she thought to herself, 'or a mechanic-'.

"Mechanic." She shuddered at her own lips speaking those fatal word. Mechanic. It reminded her of the the things in _that place_. She wanted to forget all about aperture, robots, lasers, cores, testing, but that's all she's known her whole life. Testing. Yet somewhere inside her, she didn't want to forget it. She met friendly voices, that turned out evil in the end. She'd jumped on walls to get to places, gone in and out of multiple elevators and portals, oh _PORTALS_. She missed it. But nowhere near enough to go back. She would never go back there. _Ever_.

She got off of the ground in front of the table and set for the forest once again. And this time, not to cut down trees. She had been lucky enough to find a semi-large area in the forest which grew raspberries, blueberries, apples, pears and coincidentally- potatoes. She would've picked potatoes as well, but she didn't have a pot to boil them in. So she grabbed a few apples and berries and head off. She put them into her makeshift sack made from her Aperture Jumpsuit and headed back to the cabin to eat something for lunch. She deserved it anyways, after all of her hard work.

Two robots, one small, one tall, high-fived each other as they exited the chamber. They went through the longest test they had ever been given, with lasers, buttons, light bridges, faith plates and so much more. It made them combine all that hey had learned from past chambers and use them to their advantage! It was a tough feat, but they did it, and they were sure as hell proud of it! They did a little victory dance but slowed when the heard the cold, drooling voice of _her_.

* * *

"Good job. You got through the last chamber. There will be no need for you at the moment, so I will have to ask you to leave."

And with that, the two robots exploded, leaving only dust and rubble in their leave.

The robots had been used for testing, ever since that mute lunatic who goes by the name of Chell left. The robots surely did have a lot of confidence in themselves and each other. Which can be a quality. But because of their foolish comradely they often joked around, killing each other as a prank. They were stupid, but they did the job. Although, without a human, it wasn't exciting. Scratch that, without Chell it wasn't the same. Sure, she was glad she left. Because after all, the best option is the easiest one. But testing wasn't the same.

Those robots were created for her to test. They were programmed to test. It wouldn't matter of what they did, they'd always get it done in the end, with no interruptions or breakdowns. Humans would slack in some areas, break under stress or frustration. Humans have emotions, so when given rude remarks, they will most likely react to it in a way. She could toy with their emotions, make them angry, sad, bursting with rage or drowning in tears. And then there is the occasional one that believes everything she says. Those ones are usually very rare. The point was, it wasn't fun. She needed to get a human back, any human. It just wasn't the same.

It was going to be hard finding a human. From her knowledge, all the humans in the facility were dead, or had escaped. So there wasn't much chance she was going to find any humans in Aperture, as she had looked through cryosleep several times. So she decided to take a look at the surveillance systems, and all the exits, to see if she was still around. And then she saw it. Movement. Someone slowly walking up to the shed and slumping beside the door.

"This will be perfect" she said

* * *

As Chell finished up the last of her berries, she got up and left for ' _The Exit_ '. She went back there at least once a month, and it was about time that she did it again. She don't know why she came back there, she had the risk of being taken. It was just familiar, with all of the hums and whirs. And it was the spot where she'd think about things, create ideas, and remember. She didn't like it when she remembered things. Most of the time she imagined, but there were times when she remembered Aperture, Portals, her, Cores, robots. The list could honestly go on and on. But it was nice there. She liked it.

She was thinking this time. Thinking about the future and what it may hold. She had never adventured to far out, but there had to have been civilization somewhere right? After all, what was maintaining the crops? It didn't rain much, so someone had to have been watering them, and sometimes the crops weren't there. It could've easily been animal wildlife, but that didn't explain how they were being maintained or why there was an axe by some of trees near the small garden. The axe had been from a human, no doubt about it. What kind of animal carries around an axe? Depicted by the rustling, the person was very good at running, or they were very scared. It could easily be both. The blue water wasn't explained either. Was it a source for repulsion gel? Was it just there from a repulsion gel pipe leak? Or was it not even repulsion gel? Was it just that extremely blue because of how Earth had changed when she was in cryosleep?

Earth was beautiful to her. Natural, artificial. Not man-made, all mother nature. The wheat field she had been dumped out in was massive. It stretched on for what seemed like forever. But had Earth changed? That was a question she kept on asking herself, alongside the question, 'How long was I asleep for?'. It had been 999999- something. Years? It could've seemed like it. Cryogenic sleep barely ages you. It'd explain all the worn down environment and the overgrowth invading the facilt-

THWAK.

Chell was knocked out cold. The only noise heard was the clash of metal on concrete, and the words she never wished to hear again in her life-

" _Thank you for assuming the party escort submission position._ "

And then it all faded to black.


	2. Chapter 2 - Blue, Orange and Red?

Chell opened her eyes slightly. Everything was a dull grey. Did she fall asleep by the shed? And then she remembered. She shot upright, stunned, furious, confused ready to fight, and scared. She'd never felt scared before. This place was in her nightmares and she was back. She didn't want to back, she didn't want to be here, she should've been more vigilant, she should've-

 _"Welcome back. I knew you wouldn't want to leave."_

Her voice echoed throughout the the area. She was in her room. Chell gathered up all her courage and turned to confront the giant machine. She was determined to do something, anything, but that plan was shortly interrupted by a giant claw picking her up from the ceiling. She struggled and fought the machine with all her might to break free, but it was no use. She looked down and around her surroundings. She was wearing long fall boots. GLaDOS must've put those onto her when she had and there was a eerie stillness in the air. It was freaky, she had to admit that.

 _"Don't try to escape. You're in my grip, it's no use. I warned you, 'Don't come back', but you did, so this is my only choice, I had other things to use for testing but it wasn't the same. I got bored with what I had, so I decided to go back and look for one of my old test subjects. After all, the ones my two robots had found were all dead. And what a waste too, you wouldn't have to come back down here if they weren't. So I went on to check the outskirts of the facility. I didn't think you'd be there, but you were. You really are a fool. I wouldn't be surprised if you were mistaken for that moron. I guess he was right about one thing, you have brain damage, but I already knew if you refuse to do these tests, i'll send you to space like him. You two would get along great. You're both monsters."_

Chell didn't take her rude comments seriously, as she did when she was here last. She was the monster, not her, not Wheatley. He was just a moron. A really big moron. Okay, a REALLY REALLY big moron. Okay, so he was evil, but that was once. She didn't like thinking about him so she found herself distracted on the screens behind GLaDOS. They were screens of inside the facility and the exits. It turns out there was more than one, exit, and Chell could swear she saw something light brown move. Maybe it was a deer. As she tried wriggling free to get a closer look, but GLaDOS clenched onto her tighter.

 _"Anyway, enough of my rambling. I have many tests that you can get back to. And even some new ones you've never seen before. Unless you have. Then you'll have to do those again. But you wouldn't have remembered them. You're too much of an imbecile"_

Chell huffed , as a portal gun lowered from the ceiling. She grabbed it off the podium, and examined it before putting it on. It's familiar sleek design comforted her as it slid cozily onto her hand. The familiar whirs and pshngs of the device give her a small rush of adrenaline. She was lowered slightly as a tube emerged out of the ground

 _"Oh, and don't get stuck in the tube. I see you've been putting on a few hundred pounds"_

And she was dropped into it, being led into whatever nightmare happens next.

The tube ride hadn't been very long, and there wasn't a lot to see, besides a few different chambers being rebuilt and what looked to be a brand new, state of the art, turret redemption line. Well, that's over-praising it, because it certainly wasn't brand new, but it looked a lot different than what it did the last time she was here. Although one thing in particular did catch her eye as she was in the tube. She saw a core. It had a orangey-gold, eye with lines going through it. It was looking pre-occupied with something, before it turned and looked at her. One thing that was clear is that it jumped (or bounced on it's rail) at the sight of her, optic spinning rapidly. The core tried following the tube along, but couldn't go any further when the wall stopped. She caught a glimpse of it turning of to the left and moving up before it was completely out of her line of sight. Chell pondered over what this core was, and why it followed her. Was it trying to help, or trying to catch her, trick her into going with it and taking her to some big incinerator. Who knows what it would do. It could've just seen something behind her, and decide to get a better look at it before actually turning off to finish whatever it was doing. This core was a lot different than the others she's seen before though. Their outer shell was brown and it had a flower pattern on it? Was it one of the newer designs, or an old one? Who knows. A part of her wanted to find out, and a part of her didn't.

* * *

The hatch on the wall snapped shut as the distressed core stopped in his repair room. He was a maintenance core, built to fix other robots and himself that occasional once or twice. His room was full of plenty of things that could fix any problem. All but this problem.

"A human?! Did GLaDOS capture another human!? Oh no, oh no, oh no this is isn't good at all."

The core spoke to himself often. He was usually very talkative, but cores didn't get damaged as much as they used to. When cores were defective they were dumped in a big area and left there for presumably forever. It was only ever since the rouge core took over that he had snuck out and grabbed the cores from the pit to fix them of their damages. Virgil assumed they weren't defective, and they were just a bit different. The only reason they were thrown there was because GLaDOS didn't appreciate them, or they had no place for a job. They still did what they were meant to do, but they didn't follow GLaDOS's commands. That's not defective in his optic. She was the one who was probably defective, making humans test in dangerous environments for her own sick twisted pleasure. But he didn't dare say that out loud. She would throw _him_ into the incinerator for saying something like that.

"What should I do? I'm gonna be dead if I let the human out, but if I don't the human will be dead! One of us is probably going to die either way, maybe both of us will, who knows, SHES back in charge, oh god, what to do, what to do, what to do, wha-"

 _"Virgil?"_

Virgil nearly fell off his rail. He turned around and saw a core, which looked like it had been through multiple damages and multiple repairs.

"Oh, hi there Glitchy! What's the problem today?"

 _"Nothing Virgil, you were just being loud and I came to see what the problem was."_ Admitted the core. _"For once, i'm checking up on you. Maybe i'm meant to be a mechanic?"_

Virgill stared at the him doubtfully.

"Uhhhhhhh, no. But you'll find your use one day! And nothing's wrong, you don't need to worry." Virgil added quickly, sounding a little more stressed out than he should.

 _"Are you sure? Because you're talking to yourself, and you're very stressed based on the tone of your voice. Come on Virgil, i'm truly concerned about you."_

Virgil wanted to tell Glitchy about what he saw, but seeing as how stressed out he himself was, he decided not too.

"There, really is nothing wrong Glitchy, but thanks for your concern anyway..."

 _"Well ok, if that's what you say."_ Replied Glitchy has he hobbled out of Virgil's office and back into the work area.

Once Virgil was sure that Glitchy was out of his range of hearing, he took a big long robotic sigh and started talking to himself again.

"Ok, so to my knowledge, there are areas where her cameras cannot access, and those are outside the chambers themselves and a few of the offices and work-spaces, including mine which is good. So I could access the panels in the test chamber that the human is in, but first i'd have to distract GLaDOS. I have to get her to look away from the cameras, I know that much, but how is the question..."

This made him ponder. "What could be a good excuse for her to look away from the cameras. I could throw something at her, like a box of parts, but that's too risky. I could send in a package with a cake, that might distract her. The only problem is I don't know how to make a cake, let alone have the ingredients for it. There must be something I could do-"

And then he remembered.

"I'M A MECHANIC! Oh god i'm such an idiot for not thinking of this before! I'm meant to fix robots and cores! I could reprogram P-Body and Atlas to go and distract her! Although, I might not even have to reprogram them." He said, with the hint of what would be a smirk if he had a mouth.

* * *

 _"This next text should be a real SHOCKER."_

Chell tskked at the voice on the intercom. She had made the 'shock' joke ever since she introduced 'electrocution floor'. Portals could be shot onto it but if she stood on them they would shock her. She learnt that the hard way.

As she approached the next chamber she saw that half of it was covered in that electric flooring, with only a few select gaps that she could walk on. It then hit her that she was in an electric floor maze, with no portal surfaces whatsoever, aside from the floor, but shooting a portal would be no use, because if she jumped out of one she'd hit the ground anyways. So she had to be strategic about it. No portals whatsoever in this chamber. Just a pure sight-based test. She kept her eyes to the floor, focusing on where the electricity field was, ignoring all the rants GLaDOS was tossing at her.

 _"You know, I could find you new clothing if you get out of this chamber. The things you're wearing are awful, they make you look fat. Well, just about anything would make you look fat. Because that's what you are. Fat. Maybe I could get you a treadmill. Although nothing will change that flab that you have on you. Maybe if I increased the electricity's power it will have the strength to cut half of it off. Oh wait. You have so much that the electricity would barely burn you. Well that's a shame isn't it."_

As Chell made it to the end, she was starting to get really irritated. GLaDOS was a lot more talkative and pushy and rude than the first time. That made her ponder. Why? She found it unsettling that she was talking that much. Was she bored? It had been a year without anybody to talk to, so she could've been bored. But why was she bored? She was just a robot now, wasn't she?

"Stop being useless, there's a lot of tests to be done. Do you hear me? Did you lose your hearing as well? That's sad. I guess I can call you whatever I want now. Okay, now get in the elevator, Moron the 2nd. Too bad you can't hear that, it's very offensive."

Chell sighed and picked up the pace, moving off into the next elevator that went to god-knows where.

* * *

"Ho boy, this should be fun." Said Virgil, sounding more giddy then he should.

He hooked his wifi into a private bay where P-Body and Atlas were stored when not in use. They shouldn't be out by now, seeing as SHE had a human. She could have her robots back for testing as soon as he was finished with them.

'ACCESS: P-BODY, ATLAS. REDIRECT: REPAIR ROOM."

He waited...

 **"ACCESS: GRANTED. REDIRECTING: TESTING-BOT-1, TESTING-BOT-2 TO: REPAIR ROOM"**

"Yes! I got them! Now time to tell them just what they have to do!"

Ans as he said those words, two robots were built right in front of him. One thin and tall, with an orange optic, and one small and round, with a blue optic. And boy, were they mad. They started screaming robot gibberish that seemed to be some sort of language. Of course Virgil was a robot, but he couldn't understand them. They were a lot more advanced than he was, so it was like he was from a foreign country.

"Okay guys, calm down, no need to be so heated up. I assume you're angry at GLaDOS?" He asked, and they nodded in agreement. The blue one shook his fist at the roof, whilst the orange one started kicking over boxes of spare parts and tables,. The blue one joined in, tossing around all the parts that came out of the box at the ceiling and he was just about to rip a leg of the tale when Virgil stopped them.

"WOAH, WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU GUYS. **CALM DOWN!** " Virgil shouted. The robots stopped what they were doing and looked at him, shocked and apologetic, with P-Body's head tilted to the side a bit. She put the box back, fixed up the table and started listening to Virgil again.

"You want to get revenge don't you? Well, I have a plan..."

Virgil explained the plan to them, dumbing it down a bit because he knew that they were a lot more childish than the other robots he'd met. Halfway through his explanation of his plan, the bots started getting excited again, but they didn't start literally bouncing of the walls until he finished his plans. They were so excited, and they agreed with the plan a lot, but then they remembered what happened last time they got rowdy, so they calmed down, but still hopped around on both feet in front of Virgil.

"So, do we have a deal?"

The blue robot bleeped in response, and Virgil's optic spun around twice, He was more nervous than he had ever been in his entire life, but, my god, he was excited.


End file.
